


On The Road Again: Pralines and Cookery

by ariedana



Series: On The Road Again [9]
Category: Take That
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-11-16
Updated: 2012-11-16
Packaged: 2017-11-18 19:16:15
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,389
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/564357
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ariedana/pseuds/ariedana
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Turmoil related to Gary's X Factor duties brings up insecurities from his past, which Mark does his best to handle in his own special way. A stand-alone outtake from the series, referencing events that may not happen in real life.</p>
            </blockquote>





	On The Road Again: Pralines and Cookery

After it came out about Mark’s relapse in New Orleans, the decision had been made amongst the boys that he should share a room with one of the others for the rest of the trip. Not because of a lack of trust, but because the hours alone in his room at night seemed to be the hardest for him in maintaining sobriety. Whilst Mark hated to be going backwards into the early ’90s where they had to share rooms on tour, he had to admit that he appreciated the company.

That first night in Baton Rouge was assigned to Gary, which actually made Mark happy. As much as he adored Rob, he knew that the past few days had been pretty rough on his friend and he knew he needed a break. And Mark had been missing Gary a bit, especially now that he didn’t have to worry that spending time with him would reveal home truths.

Gary had headed back to the room earlier than the others after the Mardi Gras parades, saying that he needed to call Dawn before it was completely in the middle of the night back home. Mark spent a bit more time wandering around with Rob and Jason in the streets, sharing another Louisiana specialty called a snoball with Rob whilst Jay looked on disapprovingly. It was shaved ice with very fancy syrups on it, like mango nectar and coffee cream, and between the two of them the snoball was a very odd and convoluted combination of flavours that still tasted fantastic.

Mark finally headed back to the room with a heady sugar rush and a bag full of pralines for Gary. He found his friend lying on his bed staring at the ceiling.

“Gaz, what happened?” Mark said, dropping the bag of pralines on the dresser. “Did something happen with Dawn or the kids?” 

“No, they’re all fine,” he said. “Dawn wasn’t too happy to hear from me at 1 am, but I can’t blame her there.”

Mark nodded as he sat down on the bed, lying back next to Gary.

“Then what’s the issue, babes?” he said, lightly but seriously at the same time in a way only Mark could manage.

Gary looked over at Mark, who looked better than he had in a week but who still had some telltale dark circles under his eyes. He didn’t want to lay his burdens upon his friend, who seemed to be carrying the weight of the world on himself already. However, the thought occurred to him that maybe Mark needed to get outside of his own head a bit.

“I don’t know, Markie,” he said. “I got an email from my agent. Syco is reconsidering the judging panel for next year. They do this every year but it really seems like they are blaming me for the lower ratings this time. They think all those joke acts that I hate so much are the reason why ratings were higher before I took over from Simon. So it looks like I may not be back next year, and it’s embarassing.”

Mark nodded.

“It’s not like I have to do it,” Gary continued. “Frankly it’s going to be tough to do it and the new album at the same time. X Factor is just a side job to me, and it always has been. But it feels like rejection, like I’m losing my solo record deal all over again. And what happens if our next album tanks? We just came off our biggest tour ever with Rob, and he’s not going to be back for this one. What if the fans don’t want to go back to the way it was? What if we can’t do as big of a show? Are they going to care about us if we don’t have the elephants and confetti cannons and the dance-offs? We can only do all of this stuff for so long. When we lose the spectacle, will we lose the fans?”

Mark’s face clouded over briefly, because hearing Gary, the captain of the ship, contemplate it sinking was disheartening. But then Mark’s natural enthusiasm took back over.

“Mate, you don’t think that the fans watch us for the elephants and the dancing, do you?” Mark told Gary. “I mean, that stuff is a show and it’s fun and makes people happening, but that only lasts for a few minutes and then the show is over. What they keep listening for is the music.”

Mark reached over and pulled Gary into a cuddle, holding him close against his chest.

“You haven’t gone wrong, Gaz,” he said. “You have followed your heart and your gut, and that’s why we’ve gotten as far as we have as a group. You are the one with the song in your heart, and the most beautiful heart I’ve ever seen. It shines through. And even if not as many people appreciated it on X Factor as they should’ve, it’s been a much better show with you there. The quality this year was incredible, and you brought out the best of those overs. You have made a difference. And you will continue to make a difference to the four of us, even Rob on his own. If anything, this frees you up to follow your heart to more places.”

Gary looked up at Mark, feeling a bit more hopeful but still in a state of gloom.

“Do you really need me so much, though?” he said. “You have the music in you, mate. You always have. If anything, me being such a control freak at the beginning held you back. Between you and Rob, you could write a million hit records, and Jay and Howard would fill in everything else you need. And you all support each other in ways I’ve never done.”

Mark looked down at Gary with so much affection that Gary could only look up at him mutely.

“Gaz, you are our support,” he said. Do you know how much we all have looked up at you, always? You’re the one who has been performing since the age of 11. You were writing hit songs at an age that would make Taylor Swift jealous. And in the early days, yes, that made it hard. But after the band broke up, who do you think inspired me to learn so much and try so hard to become a great musician? Do you think I would’ve ever started writing without you?”

“I want to succeed just to make you proud,” Mark continued. “Rob could easily go back to LA and live off his money for the rest of his life, but he wants to be huge again because he’s so proud of the work you’ve done together. Jay would have never, ever gotten in front of a crowd again if it weren’t for you, and frankly he enjoys it more than he’ll admit. And Howard is one of the best harmony singers in the world because your material inspired him to develop that. He has developed his skills in music because you showed him the direction. You showed us all the direction.”

Mark smiled down at Gary, who suddenly looked ready to burst into tears.

“All you have to know is that this is your stage and it’s all because of you,” he said. “Nigel built the band around you at the beginning because of your talent. We built the band around you the next go round because of your guidance. The band is about music and about love, and that’s who you are.”

Gary couldn’t stop a single tear from welling out of his eye. Mark reached down and wiped it away, along with a couple of his own.

“Thanks, mate,” Gary said. “More than I can ever say. I hope you know that I couldn’t do it without you. And I don’t want you to try to do it without me. Please let me be there for you, k?”

Mark nodded.

“Okay, enough of all this mushiness,” he said. “I’m going to feed you some pralines. And I think that there might be an episode of MasterChef on. Aren’t you friends with Ramsay?”

Thus the two of them then ended the night with another dose of sugar and a mega dose of swearing, cuddled up watching cookery together.


End file.
